Moments of Joy

Flowers from my older daughter and son-in-law, who live far away and send the nicest bouquets of flowers when we least expect it. Thank you, dear Daughter and Son-in-law.

Scenes of water and trees during the warm months.

Pictures of our gentle giant Kinu. Despite his enormous size, he was a sweet dog who had no idea why some strangers were reluctant to come close.

Mr. D., the sweet little dog my younger daughter rescued.

Easter weekend made 4 years since she brought him home. (Thanks for your kind heart, dear Daughter.)

Scenes from summer, like the day lilies that will bloom profusely this July.

Time spent on the farmhouse verandah.

And moments like this one below: I was signing books at St. George’s Anglican Church in Toronto and a little girl, Tatyana, marched over and asked me to take a photo with her and her mother. I was honoured.

One of the tools they taught me at the rehabilitation hospital: focus on a happy scene. When pain gets so bad that you feel like howling, visualize something that brings you joy.

Those are lovely images with lovely feelings associated with them. Isn’t Tatyana joyous? It must be hard, though, to ignore the pain long enough to concentrate on joyful images. Sending you heaps of lovely, peaceful images.

It IS difficult. Let no-one tell you otherwise. Severe pain is not for the faint of heart, and until you’ve experienced it, you can’t even imagine how tough it gets. I now have great sympathy for everyone who suffers – and there’s no nicer word for it – from great pain. And I can say that I had to feel it to know what they are going through.

There’s nothing quite like chronic pain. It invades your thoughts and it’s often hard to keep your mind on anything else but even so, you never have to look too far or search too long to find something to be thankful for. As Tim Hansel said: “Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional.”

In my angriest days I once threatened to go get a gun and shoot the pain. The weirdest thing about that? It made sense to me at the time! (smile)
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( Hi Everyone: I will be answering each person, bit by bit, because I’m — well, you can imagine. This, too, shall pass.Thank you for all your kind comments.)

My poor dear Cynthia! I am so sorry you have had such pain this winter. Take your time – don’t rush. We will all still be here when you are ready. The photos of your joyful images are beautiful. My prayers and thoughts are with you and yours ❤

Thank-you Cynthia ❤ My garden grows very well – especially the weeds! I can't keep up with the gardening chores as usual. It is fortunate that after a couple of warm days we have had a lot of bright but chilly weather which has slowed a lot of the growth down. Look after yourself my dear!

Cynthia, I hope that whatever it is that is causing you pain is resolving, lessening, and will soon be gone. Gratitude, focusing on all that’s good in our lives is certainly a help. Sending you all the best, Jeanne

This is a good reminder. Whether my pain is physical or, more often, emotional I need to focus on the joys in my life. Your pictures are wonderful, I especially love your veranda and hope you’re able to sit out there and experience pain free moments. Sending healing thoughts your way.

Life throws so many challenges at us, and some we cannot control. But finding joy – it takes effort, but I recommend it highly. I have had to find joy while stuck in an old house, so I know it is always there for the seizing. ‘Course, sometimes even seizing is too great an effort, but it’s worth it! My joyful journal helps too.

Hi Cynthia, keep focusing on joyful images, I am thinking of you and imagining an afternoon on your beautiful verandah. Your daughters flowers are gorgeous too, unexpected gifts are often the best kind.

Oh my-what beautiful “Happy Scenes”:-) I see you had a daughter that loves animals:-) My animal loving daughter( Molly):-) told me the other day, “Gee, mom I don’ t know how you put up with me and all my animals:-) priceless!! Did I have a choice-tee hee:-) I have one of her rescues sitting on my lap as I write this comment-September the kitty she brought home -guess??? in September’:-) Happy Spring!

I can’t imagine chronic pain. The respect I have for people who live with suffering is endless. Unless you have lived with a pain that is continuous, you have no idea what it does to the mind. I recently found that out after my last dental procedure. I knew there would be an end to my pain but my mind did not believe it and the battle to get out of bed was taking over.

I hope your visions help relieve some of that pain and refresh your mind! Prayers for your strength! Tina

Thank you, Tina. You echoed my feelings for others who struggle with chronic pain. I would not have believed that anything could hurt that much until it struck me. So I, too, respect such people for bearing this affliction with grace.

Thanks, Margaret. You hit that one on the head: ‘the weariness of coping”. It does wear one out, and that’s why we need every technique we can find. summoning a joyful image has helped me time and time again.

I’ve never experienced the kind of pain you describe–I’m very impressed that you can get past it, even temporarily, with the power of beautiful images. That sums up the idea that the mind can make a hell of heaven and a heaven of hell!

These are lovely and sweet images Cynthia, and I can see why they would lift your spirits. Your little white Mr. D. is just adorable, and I understand about gentle giants. We had a St. Bernard when I was growing up. 🙂 The flowers your daughter and son-in-law sent you are just beautiful!! So very thoughtful of them!

I appreciate so much your visits to my blog and the kind comments you leave for me. I signed up to receive your blog posts via e-mail, and I do receive them. But I still have trouble remembering to visit you. I’ve discovered that happens with blogs I get by e-mail, as opposed to the ones whose updated posts pop up automatically on my blogroll. I’ve now added your blog to my sidebar so that I will more readily see it, and I look forward to visiting you more!

Beautiful inspiring pictures! Dogs alone can take away some part of pain!
I cannot unfortunately have any pets in this place. I love gardening and obviously art, but when my pain is just too bad, I don’t think I can be fine with thinking about anything. The worst is pain limits doing and I so much hate not getting things done. Pain is a necessary signal of the body and those people who have a severe rare disorder of not sensing pain are even in more terrible situation because pain prevents us from injuring ourselves and getting worse or missing some troubling signs and symptoms.

Every one of those pictures would bring me joy. I can smell the air and flowers from the verandah! Thanks for the reminder to focus and visualize. Sometimes we forget to just breath and smell the flowers in the midst of pain or crisis!

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